Namaqualand 0-4-2ST Pioneer

Namaqualand 0-4-2ST Pioneer

Namaqua Copper Company 0-4-2ST Pioneer, c. 1905

Type and origin Power type Steam Designer Dick, Kerr & Company Builder Dick, Kerr & Company Build date 1901 Rebuilder Dick, Kerr & Company Namaqua Copper Company Rebuild date 1901 Number rebuilt 1 from 0-4-0ST wood-burning to 0-4-2ST oil-burning

Specifications Configuration 0-4-2ST (Olomana) Driver 2nd coupled axle Gauge 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) Namaqualand Loco weight 7 LT (7,112 kg) Fuel type Oil Firebox type Round-top Cylinders Two Couplers Buffers-and-chain

Career Operators Namaqua Copper Company Number in class 1 Official name Pioneer Delivered 1901 First run 1901

The Namaqua Copper Company 0-4-2ST Pioneer of 1901 was a South African steam locomotive from the pre-Union era in the Cape of Good Hope.

In 1901, the Namaqua Copper Company acquired its first locomotive, a 0-4-2ST saddle-tank shunting engine named Pioneer, for use on its tramway line between its main mine at Tweefontein and Flat Mine at Concordia.

The Namaqua United Copper Company was formed to take over the Namaqua Copper Company from 1 January 1888 and, on 14 May 1888, it was reconstructed as the Namaqua Copper Company. In 1889, the mine built a 7 ¹⁄₂-mile long (12.1-kilometre) branch line from Braakpits Junction, near O'okiep, to Flat Mine where the Company's ore crusher was located. The line was opened to traffic on 23 April 1889. Braakpits Junction was on the Namaqualand Railway of the Cape Copper Company, which ran from Port Nolloth on the West Coast to the copper mines around O'okiep.

A tramway line was also constructed from Flat Mine to the Company's most important mine at Tweefontein, as well as branch lines to the Company stores at Concordia and the copper floor at Flat Mine. At the Port Nolloth end of the Namaqualand Railway, a short line was also built to serve the Company store at Port Nolloth. Trains were mule-hauled from the beginning.

Copper ore from the Namaqua Copper Company's mines and other Company traffic made use of the Cape Copper Company line between Braakpits Junction and Porth Nolloth. Until the Namaqua Copper Company acquired its own 8 ton capacity mainline trucks, goods and ore had to be transshipped at Braakpits Junction. By 1906, the company had a fleet of thirty trucks.

The Company survived the post-First World War depression in spite of a prolonged stoppage of mining from May 1918, but towards the end of the 1920s its copper reserves were running out and the collapse in the copper price led to final closure in July 1931. The assets of the Namaqua Copper Company were sold in 1932 and 1933 and the properties were taken over by the O'okiep Copper Company in 1939.